| “With tears augmenting the fresh morning’s dew, adding to clouds more clouds with his deep sighs.” (Act 1 scene 1 page 17) | The speaker is Lord Montague; the person he is speaking about is his son, Romeo. He doesn’t understand why Romeo has been acting as he has over the past few days. Benvolio reports having seen Romeo early that morning, but he was not in a mood to talk and left before Benvolio could reach him. EMPHASIZES ROMEOS SADNESS AND SHOWS LORD MONTAGUE’S CONCERN FOR HIS SON. |
| “Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs; being purged, a fire sparkling in lovers’ eyes; being vexed a sea nourished with loving tears.” (Act 1 scene 1 page 23) | Romeo is talking about how love can be either good or bad. Love is grief, sighs, etc. METAPHOR Romeo is speaking to Benvolio with a heavy heart while in love with Rosaline. |
| “He that is stricken blind cannot forget the precious treasure of his eyesight lost.” (Act 1 scene 1 page 25) | Benvolio is telling Romeo to forget about Rosaline and that she isn’t the only woman out there. ROMEO IS THE SPEAKER and he is trying to say that he can never forget about Rosaline’s beauty and still loves her. METAPHOR |
| “Go thither; and with unattainted eye compare her face with some that I shall show, and i will make thee think thy swan a crow.” (Act 1 scene 2 page 33) | Benvolio is telling Romeo that Rosaline is nothing compared to other women and he is trying to get him to get over her.METAPHOR |
| “But let them measure us by what they will. We’ll measure them a measure and be gone.” (Act 1 scene 4 page 43) | PUN- let them judge us as they will, we will give them dances for a while then leave BENVOLIO is speaking to Romeo (and Mercutio) |
| “Not I, belive me. You have dancing shoes with nimble soles. I have a soul of lead so stakes me to the ground I cannot move.” (Act 1 scene 4 page 43) | Romeo is trying to avoid dancing because he is depressed. —has a heavy soul. He is speaking to Mercurio and this is a PUN |
| “True, I talk of dreams,Which are the children of an idle brain,Begot of nothing but vain fantasy,Which is as thin of substance as the air”(At 1 scene 4 page 49) | —-True. I’m talking about dreams, which are the products of a brain that’s doing nothing. Dreams are nothing but silly imagination, as thin as air— Mercutio is talking to Benvolio and Romeo. This is an example of PERSONIFICATION and a SIMILE |
| “O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!”(Act 1, Scene 5, Line 51) | In this speech, Romeo compares the brightness of Juliet’s beauty and the way she stands out in the night to a “rich jewel in an Ethiope’s ear.” This speech also uses hyperbole in saying she “teach(es) the torches to burn bright.” says that she is “hot” Romeo is speaking to the servingman |
| Too like the lightning, which doth cease to beEre one can say “It lightens.” Sweet, good night.This bud of love, by summer’s ripening breath…”(Act 2 scene 2 page 77) | Juliet is speaking to Romeo when he visits her at her house. She is saying that their love is too much like lightning, which flashes and then disappears before you can say, “it’s lightning.” She also compares their love (simile) to a budding flower (their love has not yet bloomed) |
| “To fetch a ladder by the which your love must climb a bird’s nest soon when it is dark.” (Act 2 scene 6 page 109) | The Nurse is talking about Juliet’s room. It is high up and in the trees, like a bird’s nest. |
Romeo and Juliet Acts I & II quotes
August 4, 2019